Chromaticism
Encyclopedia
Chromaticism is a compositional technique interspersing the primary diatonic pitches and chords with other pitches of the chromatic scale. Chromaticism is in contrast or addition to tonality
or diatonicism (the major and minor scales). Chromatic elements are considered, "elaborations of or substitutions for diatonic scale members."
began to expand during the last half of the nineteenth century, with new combinations of chords, keys and harmonies being tried, the chromatic scale and chromaticism became more widely used, especially in the works of Richard Wagner
, such as the opera 'Tristan und Isolde
'. Increased chromaticism is often cited as one of the main causes or signs of the "break down" of tonality, in the form of increased importance or use of:
As tonal harmony continued to widen and even break down, the chromatic scale became the basis of modern music written using the twelve tone technique, a tone row
being a specific ordering or series of the chromatic scale, and later serialism
. Though these styles/methods continue to (re)incorporate tonality or tonal elements, often the trends which led to these methods were abandoned, such as modulation.
describes three forms of chromaticism: modulation, borrowed chords from secondary keys, and chromatic chords such as augmented sixth chord
s.
The total chromatic is the collection of all twelve equal tempered
pitch classes of the chromatic scale.
List of chromatic chords:
Other types of chromaticity:
A chromatic scale is one which proceeds entirely by semitones, so dividing the octave
into twelve equal steps of one semitone each.
Linear chromaticism, is used in jazz
: "All improvised lines...will include non-harmonic, chromatic notes." Similar to in the bebop scale
this may be the result of metric issues, or simply the desire to use a portion of the chromatic scale
that includes at least one note not belonging in the diatonic scale
associated with the prevailing key
. In other words, at least one note of the chord is chromatically altered. Any chord that is not chromatic is a diatonic chord.
For example, in the key of C major, the following chords (all diatonic) are naturally built on each degree of the scale:
However, a number of other chords may also be built on the degrees of the scale, and some of these are chromatic. Examples:II in first inversion is called the Neapolitan
sixth chord
. For example in C Major: F-A-D. The Neapolitan Sixth chord resolves to the V.
In rock
and popular music
, examples of chromaticism include VI7 and the Neapolitan chord
.
, passus duriusculus
is a Latin term which refers to chromatic line, often a bassline
, whether descending or ascending.
.
In the 16th century the repeated melodic semitone became associated with weeping, see: passus duriusculus
, lament bass
, and pianto
.
Susan McClary
(1991) argues that chromaticism in opera
tic and sonata form
narratives
can often be understood as the "Other", racial, sexual, class or otherwise, to diatonicism's "male" self. Whether through modulation, as to the secondary key area, or other means. For instance, Catherine Clément
calls the chromaticism in Wagner's Isolde "feminine stink". However, McClary also points out that the same techniques used in opera to represent madness in women were historically highly prized in avante-garde instrumental music, "In the nineteenth-century symphony, Salome
s chromatic daring is what distinguishes truly serious composition of the vanguard from mere cliché
-ridden hack work." (p. 101)
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
or diatonicism (the major and minor scales). Chromatic elements are considered, "elaborations of or substitutions for diatonic scale members."
Development of chromaticism
As tonalityTonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
began to expand during the last half of the nineteenth century, with new combinations of chords, keys and harmonies being tried, the chromatic scale and chromaticism became more widely used, especially in the works of Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, such as the opera 'Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde
Tristan und Isolde is an opera, or music drama, in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the romance by Gottfried von Straßburg. It was composed between 1857 and 1859 and premiered in Munich on 10 June 1865 with Hans von Bülow conducting...
'. Increased chromaticism is often cited as one of the main causes or signs of the "break down" of tonality, in the form of increased importance or use of:
- mode mixture
- leading tones
- tonicizationTonicizationIn music, tonicization is the treatment of a pitch other than the overall tonic as a temporary tonic in a composition. Tonicization is achieved through the use of the scale and harmonies of the tonicized key. The most common method of tonicization uses leading tones, dominant-tonic chord...
of each chromatic step and other secondary key areas - modulatory spaceModulatory spaceThe spaces described in this article are pitch class spaces which model the relationships between pitch classes in some musical system. These models are often graphs, groups or lattices...
- hierarchical organizations of the chromatic set such as George PerleGeorge PerleGeorge Perle was a composer and music theorist. He was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. Perle was an alumnus of DePaul University...
's - the use of non-tonal chords as tonic "keys"/"scales"/"areas" such as the Tristan chordTristan chordThe Tristan chord is a chord made up of the notes F, B, D and G. More generally, it can be any chord that consists of these same intervals: augmented fourth, augmented sixth, and augmented ninth above a root...
.
As tonal harmony continued to widen and even break down, the chromatic scale became the basis of modern music written using the twelve tone technique, a tone row
Tone row
In music, a tone row or note row , also series and set, refers to a non-repetitive ordering of a set of pitch-classes, typically of the twelve notes in musical set theory of the chromatic scale, though both larger and smaller sets are sometimes found.-History and usage:Tone rows are the basis of...
being a specific ordering or series of the chromatic scale, and later serialism
Serialism
In music, serialism is a method or technique of composition that uses a series of values to manipulate different musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as one example of...
. Though these styles/methods continue to (re)incorporate tonality or tonal elements, often the trends which led to these methods were abandoned, such as modulation.
Types of chromaticism
David CopeDavid Cope
David Cope is an American author, composer, scientist, and professor emeritus of music at the University of California, Santa Cruz...
describes three forms of chromaticism: modulation, borrowed chords from secondary keys, and chromatic chords such as augmented sixth chord
Augmented sixth chord
In music theory, an augmented sixth chord contains the interval of an augmented sixth above its "root" or bass tone . This chord has its origins in the Renaissance, further developed in the Baroque, and became a distinctive part of the musical style of the Classical and Romantic periods.-Resolution...
s.
The total chromatic is the collection of all twelve equal tempered
Equal temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of tuning, in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. As pitch is perceived roughly as the logarithm of frequency, this means that the perceived "distance" from every note to its nearest neighbor is the same for...
pitch classes of the chromatic scale.
List of chromatic chords:
- Dominant seventh chordSeventh chordA seventh chord is a chord consisting of a triad plus a note forming an interval of a seventh above the chord's root. When not otherwise specified, a "seventh chord" usually means a major triad with an added minor seventh...
s of subsidiary keys, used to create modulationModulation (music)In music, modulation is most commonly the act or process of changing from one key to another. This may or may not be accompanied by a change in key signature. Modulations articulate or create the structure or form of many pieces, as well as add interest...
s to those keys (V7-I cadences). - Augmented sixth chords
- Neapolitan sixth chords as chromatic subdominantSubdominantIn music, the subdominant is the technical name for the fourth tonal degree of the diatonic scale. It is so called because it is the same distance "below" the tonic as the dominant is above the tonic - in other words, the tonic is the dominant of the subdominant. It is also the note immediately...
s. - Diminished seventh chords as chromatic VII7
- Altered chordAltered chordIn music, an altered chord, an example of alteration, is a chord with one or more diatonic notes replaced by, or altered to, a neighboring pitch in the chromatic scale...
s - Expanded chords
- Shir-Cliff, etc. (1965).
Other types of chromaticity:
- Pitch axis theoryPitch Axis TheoryThe Pitch axis theory is a musical technique used in constructing chord progressions. The tonic is used as the bass note, and melodic scales are chosen according to the chords that lie beneath them...
- Parallel Scales
- Nonchord toneNonchord toneA nonchord tone, nonharmonic tone, or non-harmony note is a note in a piece of music which is not a part of the implied harmony that is described by the other notes sounding at the time...
- The minor mode in major keys (mode mixture)
- Shir-Cliff, etc. (1965).
Chromatic note
A chromatic note is one which does not belong to the scale of the key prevailing at the time. Similarly, a chromatic chord is one which includes one or more such notes.A chromatic scale is one which proceeds entirely by semitones, so dividing the octave
Octave
In music, an octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been referred to as the "basic miracle of music", the use of which is "common in most musical systems"...
into twelve equal steps of one semitone each.
Linear chromaticism, is used in jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
: "All improvised lines...will include non-harmonic, chromatic notes." Similar to in the bebop scale
Bebop scale
The bebop scales are frequently used in jazz improvisation and are derived from the modes of the major scale, the melodic minor scale, and the harmonic minor scale....
this may be the result of metric issues, or simply the desire to use a portion of the chromatic scale
Chromatic chord
A chromatic chord is a musical chordChord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
that includes at least one note not belonging in the diatonic scale
Diatonic scale
In music theory, a diatonic scale is a seven note, octave-repeating musical scale comprising five whole steps and two half steps for each octave, in which the two half steps are separated from each other by either two or three whole steps...
associated with the prevailing key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
. In other words, at least one note of the chord is chromatically altered. Any chord that is not chromatic is a diatonic chord.
For example, in the key of C major, the following chords (all diatonic) are naturally built on each degree of the scale:
- I = C major triad [contains notes C E G]
- ii = D minor triad [contains D F A]
- iii = E minor triad [contains E G B]
- IV = F major triad [contains F A C]
- V = G major triad [contains G B D]
- vi = A minor triad [contains A C E]
- vii = B diminished triad [contains B D F]
However, a number of other chords may also be built on the degrees of the scale, and some of these are chromatic. Examples:II in first inversion is called the Neapolitan
Neapolitan chord
In music theory, a Neapolitan chord is a major chord built on the lowered second scale degree. It most commonly occurs in first inversion so that it is notated either as II6 or N6 and normally referred to as a Neapolitan sixth chord...
sixth chord
Sixth chord
A sixth chord may be any of several kinds of chord depending on the use of the term in classical music and popular music. The original meaning of the term is a chord in first inversion, in other words with its third in the bass and its root a sixth above it...
. For example in C Major: F-A-D. The Neapolitan Sixth chord resolves to the V.
- The IV diminished chord is the Sharpened subdominant with diminished seventh chord. For example: F-A-C-E. The IV diminished chord resolves to the V. The IV can also be understood as the tonicizationTonicizationIn music, tonicization is the treatment of a pitch other than the overall tonic as a temporary tonic in a composition. Tonicization is achieved through the use of the scale and harmonies of the tonicized key. The most common method of tonicization uses leading tones, dominant-tonic chord...
of V where it functions vii7 of the V chord, written vii7/V.VI: The Augmented sixth chordAugmented sixth chordIn music theory, an augmented sixth chord contains the interval of an augmented sixth above its "root" or bass tone . This chord has its origins in the Renaissance, further developed in the Baroque, and became a distinctive part of the musical style of the Classical and Romantic periods.-Resolution...
chords resolve to the V.
In rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
, examples of chromaticism include VI7 and the Neapolitan chord
Neapolitan chord
In music theory, a Neapolitan chord is a major chord built on the lowered second scale degree. It most commonly occurs in first inversion so that it is notated either as II6 or N6 and normally referred to as a Neapolitan sixth chord...
.
Chromatic line
In music theoryMusic theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
, passus duriusculus
Chromatic fourth
In music, a chromatic fourth, or passus duriusculus, is a melody or melodic fragment spanning a perfect fourth with all or almost all chromatic intervals filled in . The quintessential example is in D minor with the tonic and dominant notes as boundaries, :The chromatic fourth was first used in the...
is a Latin term which refers to chromatic line, often a bassline
Bassline
A bassline is the term used in many styles of popular music, such as jazz, blues, funk, dub and electronic music for the low-pitched instrumental part or line played by a rhythm section instrument such as the electric bass, double bass, tuba or keyboard...
, whether descending or ascending.
Connotations
Chromaticism is often associated with dissonanceConsonance and dissonance
In music, a consonance is a harmony, chord, or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance , which is considered to be unstable...
.
In the 16th century the repeated melodic semitone became associated with weeping, see: passus duriusculus
Chromatic fourth
In music, a chromatic fourth, or passus duriusculus, is a melody or melodic fragment spanning a perfect fourth with all or almost all chromatic intervals filled in . The quintessential example is in D minor with the tonic and dominant notes as boundaries, :The chromatic fourth was first used in the...
, lament bass
Lament bass
In music, the lament bass is a ground bass, built from a descending perfect fourth from tonic to dominant, with each step harmonized. The diatonic version is the upper tetrachord from the natural minor scale, known as the Phrygian tetrachord, while the chromatic version, the chromatic fourth, has...
, and pianto
Pianto
In music, the pianto is the motif of a descending minor second, has represented laments and been associated textually with weeping, sighing ; or pain, grief, etc.; since the 16th century. For example the passus duriusculus. "It was present equally in vocal and instrumental music."...
.
Susan McClary
Susan McClary
Susan McClary is a musicologist associated with the "New Musicology". Noted for her work combining musicology and a feminist music criticism, McClary is Professor of Musicology at Case Western Reserve University.-Biography:...
(1991) argues that chromaticism in opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
tic and sonata form
Sonata form
Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...
narratives
Narratology
Narratology denotes both the theory and the study of narrative and narrative structure and the ways that these affect our perception. While in principle the word may refer to any systematic study of narrative, in practice its usage is rather more restricted. It is an anglicisation of French...
can often be understood as the "Other", racial, sexual, class or otherwise, to diatonicism's "male" self. Whether through modulation, as to the secondary key area, or other means. For instance, Catherine Clément
Catherine Clément
Catherine Clément is a prominent French philosopher, novelist, feminist, and literary critic. She received a degree in philosophy from the prestigious Ecole Normale Supérieure, and studied under such luminaries as Claude Lévi-Strauss and Jacques Lacan, working in the fields of anthropology and...
calls the chromaticism in Wagner's Isolde "feminine stink". However, McClary also points out that the same techniques used in opera to represent madness in women were historically highly prized in avante-garde instrumental music, "In the nineteenth-century symphony, Salome
Salome (opera)
Salome is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss to a German libretto by the composer, based on Hedwig Lachmann’s German translation of the French play Salomé by Oscar Wilde. Strauss dedicated the opera to his friend Sir Edgar Speyer....
s chromatic daring is what distinguishes truly serious composition of the vanguard from mere cliché
Cliché
A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...
-ridden hack work." (p. 101)
External links
- "Passus duriusculus", Bach-Cantatas.com.